ATLANTA — It feels as if their names have been entwined for ages — by coaches and team officials, by columnists and television hosts, by fans and former players — but not until Tuesday did Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler come together on the same pitching staff.

And once they did, each pitching a game for the Mets during a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves, the organization’s long-held and hopeful vision for its future seemed to seep momentarily into the present day.

To be sure, trying days remain for the Mets. But the sight that materialized on the mound at Turner Field — two young right-handers, displaying their considerable gifts — was one the team’s fans may hold tightly as they wait out the current gloom.

First to the mound was Harvey, 24, accepted now as one of baseball’s most exciting performers. He further secured that status Tuesday afternoon, guiding the Mets to a 4-3 victory, threatening for the third time this season to pitch a no-hitter. Though he fell short once again, he reinforced that the feat was well within his capabilities.

Then came Wheeler, 23, a long and spindly complement to Harvey, the bulldog, the horse. Making his major league debut, Wheeler lacked Harvey’s polish, but his performance offered profuse intrigue. His fastball ran wild at first, but he was soon using it to devastating effect as the Mets grabbed a second win, 6-1.

When Harvey and Wheeler were done, the Mets still sat 13 games below .500, still appeared deeply flawed. But the two invited observers to at least picture a different, hypothetical reality, in which a youthful staff helps to stockpile wins over the coming seasons.

“Like every other Mets fan, I was eager to see what the hype was about,” David Wright said. “It gives you a good glimpse of possibly what could be the very near future.”

The hope and speculation for a day seemed realized.

Harvey’s dominance was enthralling: Rarely does one see so many feeble half-swings from a professional lineup. He gave up three hits, but did not allow his first one until the seventh inning. He walked three batters and struck out 13, a personal high.

His first inning foreshadowed the ferocity to come. He threw 10 pitches, all fastballs, the last one crossing the plate at 100 miles an hour to strike out Jason Heyward. All game long, he coaxed a stream of pointless hacks and slumped shoulders. And having produced two other plausible no-hit bids this season, he said he thought he had a decent chance for one Tuesday.

“I was striking out a lot of guys, and they weren’t putting the ball into the outfield too often,” Harvey said. “Any time that’s going on, you think in the back of the mind that it’s possible.”

Photo

Zack Wheeler pitching in the first inning.Credit
Todd Kirkland/Associated Press

The possibility ended when Heyward, leading off the seventh, chopped a changeup down the first-base line. The ball deadened and spun awkwardly, sending both Harvey and first baseman Lucas Duda scampering after it. Harvey grabbed the ball and flipped it to first, but Duda was not there. The ball plopped instead to the dirt as Heyward slid headfirst into the bag.

Harvey said he tired somewhat after that, and he went on to have three runs charged to him in the eighth, when he loaded the bases and was removed before getting an out. LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Rice and Bobby Parnell, who notched a four-out save, combined to tiptoe the team to the finish line, making the Mets’ four-run output — highlighted by John Buck’s solo homer in the fourth — hold up.

As he sat inside his office between games, Manager Terry Collins was willing to at least entertain the possibility that Harvey was driven to reclaim the spotlight that was commandeered before Wheeler’s debut.

Hours later, Wheeler, a Georgia native, seemed to validate the hoopla that has surrounded him since the San Francisco Giants traded him to the Mets two years ago for Carlos Beltran.

Wheeler received support all game from a large contingent of family and friends, and he gave them plenty to cheer, striking out seven over six scoreless innings. But he showed his wild side, too, issuing five walks.

Five of his first seven pitches were balls, prompting a visit to the mound from Wright. Thirteen pitches later, the pitching coach, Dan Warthen, was checking on him, as well. Though Wheeler walked two batters that inning, he also flashed the stuff that has made his arrival so awaited, striking out Heyward on a 97-m.p.h. fastball and firing another one to shatter Justin Upton’s bat.

Wheeler sharpened as the game wore on. He struck out the side during the second and worked around a throwing error to wriggle from a third-inning jam. The game was scoreless when he left it, but the Mets exploded for six runs during the seventh and eighth innings.

“I went into it knowing that I’m good enough to be here, obviously,” Wheeler said. “Once I settled down, I was ready to go.”

Wheeler’s next scheduled start will be next Tuesday, away against the Chicago White Sox. Since he joined the Mets for the doubleheader as their 26th man, he will go back to the Class AAA team until that next outing. Until then, they can savor the sight produced over a long day at Turner Field: two consecutive wins for the Mets, Harvey and Wheeler acting as their stewards.

For a day, it was a pattern that could be envisioned repeating into the future.

INSIDE PITCH

Justin Turner (rib-cage muscle strain) was placed on the disabled list, while Scott Atchison (elbow inflammation) returned from it. But Atchison pulled his right groin while warming up Tuesday. ... The team announced after the game that outfielder Andrew Brown was being recalled from Class AAA, but did not announce a corresponding move. ... The Mets traded the right-hander Collin McHugh to Colorado for outfielder Eric Young Jr. Both players were designated for assignment last week. To make room for Young, outfielder Collin Cowgill was designated for assignment.

A version of this article appears in print on June 19, 2013, on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: One-Two Punch Looks Dominant As the Mets Sweep. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe